Auction 51
Lot 125:
Antique pair of miniature tefillin, the boxes are open and reveal the miniature parchment scrolls inside their proper places. The letter Shin on the boxes is in Ashkenazi script, and it seems probable that the scrolls are as well (not checked). Includes the miniature straps for each box.
size of every box: 3X2.2cm. 3.3X2.4 cm.
The case itself is antique, frayed, and heavily used (see picture). On one side is the wording of the blessings in Hebrew, and on the other is its translation into German. There is also the name of the printer/maker: Jakob B. Brandeis of Prague. See below. 14x18cm.
Jakob B. Brandeis died on 20 September, 1912. He was a founder of a book publisher and bookstore which, from 1880 on, supplied prayerbooks and Hebrew literature to the Jewish community, as well as educational Jewish texts, particularly in German. He was born in Prague on 3 June 1835, a descendant of an old, respected Jewish family. His wife was the daughter of the second-leading publisher of Prague, Wolff Pashles. He was involved in current Jewish affairs and was active in combatting anti-Semitism throughout his life.From the 1860s he wrote articles for Prague and Viennese journals and from 1881 designed an illustrated calendar (Illustreiter israelitischer Volkskalender), which he published himself. In 1864 he founded a printing company. Brandeis Book Publishing and Bookstore was originally founded on Old Town Square, and from 1892 it was located at Celetná street. In 1899 he opened a branch in Breslau.
In addition to literature, the bookstore offered ritual items like tefillin bags, tallises, menorot, and decorative paper with motifs of the Altneu Synagogue in Prague and depictions of biblical figures (Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon), and contemporary figures like Sir Moses Montefiore. He also produced silk textiles with kiddush blessings for shabbat, the Regalim, Rosh Hashanah, and the Ushpizim text. The printed textile is decorated with motifs of woodcuts taken from other types of Jewish holy tablets (Shiviti, Mizrach, Yahrzeit), a menorah with psalms, the figures of Moses and Aaron. See more at: https://www.jewishmuseum.cz/predmet-mesice/146/150/ANNIVERSARY-The-Prague-publisher-Jakob-B-Brandeis/
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